Softhearted
by Marmona
Summary: Allen leaves on a errand for Komui, but comes back to the Order with a stray puppy.


For Allen it was a good day to be at Headquarters. Things were quiet and peaceful, and a comfortable chill resided in the air. It wasn't too cold, but it was a perfect relief from the unsuccessful time he had just spent hunting down Innocence in the deserts of Rome.

After five miserable days out there he had received a message: There was a mistake in judgment on Komui's part, and there was no Innocence in the area. Allen, exasperated, took a two-day trip back home and slept for twelve hours.

It was late morning now and Allen sauntered out of the cafeteria and down the hallway. He took a sharp turn to the right into his bedroom, shut the door and flopped down once again onto his bed. He sighed contently, pleasantly full after a morning spent overeating. He had needed this day off for a long time.

As Allen pondered how much another two hours of sleep would affect his routine, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Rather than accepting the invitation, Kanda's voice came through from the hallway. "Komui wants you."

"Whaaat…" Allen said this more to himself than Kanda. The somber exorcist could already be heard leaving. "Why now…" he sighed, forcing himself to get back out of bed and take an arduous walk to the supervisor's office.

Komui greeted him with a warm smile as he came in. It made Allen suspicious.

"Thank you for coming in. There's no need for that look, you know. I understand you just got back last night." Komui reassured him. "But… if you don't mind I have a favor to ask of you. I need you to go into town and pick up a package for me at the post office. I won't force you to do this!" He said quickly. "But it is important that I get this as soon as possible."

"It's okay sir. I'll do it." Allen said, feeling that he was being guilted into the task.

"Good! Good, thank you Allen!" Komui grinned, scribbling down some hasty instructions onto a scrap piece of paper and handing it to him. "Bye now!"

Allen shoved the paper in his pocket and headed for the door. "See you later."

On his way out, he ran into Lenalee carrying a full coffee mug to her brother's office.

"Going somewhere?" She asked, noting the purpose in his stride.

"Into town, Komui wants me to pick up a package for him."

"Really." She said, looking him over. "You don't need to wear that jacket."

"I don't mind."

"You probably don't' but it's dangerous to attract akuma to yourself anyway if that package is too important. Here, give it to me."

"Umm… sure thanks." Allen said, removing his exorcist jacket and handing it to her free hand.

Lenalee smiled. "No problem, have fun okay?"

"Sure," said goodbye and continued on his way.

The town was bustling. People were everywhere and the smell of baking asphalt saturated the air. Allen quickened his pace a little bit and reached into his pocket for the instructions Komui had given him.

The instructions!

He looked down in surprise as his fingers met with the light material of his grey vest rather than a pocket. He had left the paper in his exorcist jacket!

"Darnit…" He muttered, glancing at the area around him. Allen had never gotten a chance to thoroughly explore the town before and only had a vague idea of where things were.

He spotted a convenience store a little ways down the street. It was painted a cheerful blue and used cute block letters to spell out its name and any other information posted outside. Comforted by its friendly demeanor, Allen went to it in hopes of finding someone approachable who might help him find the post office.

He was met with a cold blast of air from a vent above the doorframe as he entered. A small bell tied to the door handle chimed as it the door swung shut. Only a couple people glanced up at him briefly, except for a toddler boy with his mom. The boy stared at Allen's white hair, so intently that Allen felt uncomfortable. He was glad to get the chance to put a wall of candy between each other as he walked to the register.

"Excuse me sir." Allen started, "I don't know my way around here very well. Do you know where the post office might be?"

The man at the register looked at him with a bored expression before reaching under the table for a tiny brochure. "Here." He said, handing it over. "There's a map on the back."

Allen flipped the brochure over and found the map easily. Pleased, he thanked the man politely and left.

Recalling Komui's order to be prompt, Allen picked up his pace even more. His eyes never wandered beyond the brochure or the street signs high above people's heads.

This concentration is unfortunately what left Allen off guard. He never noticed the footsteps that lingered behind him, matching his pace almost perfectly, until he turned a corner and caught a powerful whiff of lilacs as the breeze changed. He stopped.

"Can I help you?"

The girl that was shadowing him grinned. "No, not at all."

"Um… were you following me?"

"No."

According to his left eye, the girl was a perfectly normal human being. So, a little annoyed, Allen continued on his way. The girl continued to follow.

However, when he made it to the post office, the girl did not follow him inside. He received the parcel for Komui with little trouble and checked out the window to see if she was still outside. Sure enough, she was standing by the door; obviously waiting for him to come back out.

"Is that girl following you, sir?"

He turned in surprise. A young man roughly his age was working behind the counter closest to the wall. The angle gave him a perfect view of what Allen was seeing.

"Yes, how did you know?"

The employee looked sympathetic, but his tone had a humored air. He reminded Allen of Lavi.

"That's Morgan. She has a reputation for following boys around." He chuckled. "It's her way of flirting."

Allen grimaced and glanced out the window again.

Obviously amused, the employee offered: "I can let you out through the back door."

"Thank you."

Allen was lead to a storage room where the back door was built into the far wall. He said his thanks again before entering the alleyway.

It was fairly clean for an alley, probably due to the wealthy buildings that surrounded it. The back of a restaurant was located a little further down, and the smell of cooking meat tantalized Allen and made him hungry again.

Despite the wonderful smells, Allen was about to turn away when he heard what sounded like a scream; something a creature in pain would make. He jumped and yanked the glove off of his left hand. The squeal came again and he located it in a dumpster behind the restaurant. Running over, he began to dig through it. Nothing was there but trash.

"Is anyone there?" He asked worriedly.

A low whine came in reply, so quietly that Allen had to strain his ears to find it. But when he did, something finally occurred to him and he kneeled down to check under the dumpster. In contrast to the neat little alleyway, it was absolutely filthy down there.

In the farthest corner, almost undetectable among the grime and trash, a tiny face peered back at him with large eyes.

Allen lowered his voice down to a soft murmur. "Hey there… can you come out?" He asked, gently, as he tried to coax the animal out by offering his hand.

It was a very small creature and it shied away at the sight of something so much bigger than itself. Allen heard it bark nervously, and immediately identified it as a puppy.

He flattened himself out on the gritty pavement so he could reach the terrified pup and pulled it out by the scruff.

"Hush, it's okay." He tried to console the squealing thing as he got into a sitting position. It didn't quite calm down until it found Allen's right thumb and began suckling it quite assertively.

Allen watched it for a little bit, as it squirmed and dug its pearly little teeth into his finger. He could feel its jaw shivering with the effort but it was hardly enough to bring any real pain to the exorcist.

Suddenly it stopped. The puppy was very small and skinny, only about the length of Allen's two hands resting flat and side-by-side; and its soft fur was white with an exception on its face, where a black patch of color dominated the left side of it.

Despite how filthy it seemed, especially with its white coat, it was simply adorable. Allen felt his heart melt as the natural instinct to take care of something so small and helpless took over.

However, the feeling was quickly replaced by a jolt of alarm as the puppy shifted and smeared blood onto his glove. It was then that Allen realized the fresh, nasty cut on its soft belly. He stood up quickly and cradled the animal carefully in his arms as he adjusted Komui's parcel under his arm.

It didn't take him long to find a phone booth, where he quickly used the phone book to find the number of the only veterinary office in town. With a sigh of frustration, he read that it was closed on weekends.

"Okay… now what?" Allen asked as he stepped back out into the baking city air. The puppy gave no sign of hearing him and was falling into an exhausted sleep in his arms.

Allen tried to imagine what might happen if he brought it back to Headquarters. Komui was a sucker for cute things, right? As long as Allen promised to find a home for it soon it couldn't be too much of a problem…

At least, against all the things that could possibly go wrong, that seemed like a good, likely outcome. He swallowed nervously and began in the direction of home.

As soon as Allen got to the door of Headquarters, there was an issue. The door locked itself very securely as he approached.

"Hey, it's just me…" Allen said.

There was no response.

A few moments later the intercom came to life with Komui' voice on the other end. "Allen… is that a dog?" His voice was calm but a little forced.

Automatically Allen knew he was in trouble. The puppy trembled at the voice that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Please, sir, it's just a baby and it's hurt! The vet was closed today!"

"Allen…"

"Oh, please Komui!"

"Calm down, I was going to say yes; this isn't a permanent thing though, okay? Bring it with you to my office."

Allen nodded obediently. "Of course, thank you."

Five hours later, the afternoon was drawing to a close and the sky outside was washed over with various shades of orange. Just about everyone that resided in headquarters were filtering into the cafeteria for dinner.

For the first time since he joined the Black Order, Allen showed up very late. When he did appear, his walk was careful and out of place. Slowly, one by one, each person in the room got a glance at the white-haired boy holding an ecstatic puppy in his arms. He murmured to it softly, things like, "Hush" and "Stop it!" as he tried to keep it from squirming too much.

The cut on its belly was neatly stitched up, courtesy of Komui. But the sedatives had worn off and the aroma of the kitchen was sending it ballistic.

The high chef Jerry had already heard the high pitched barking and was leaning out of the kitchen window. "Oh my God it's adorable." He said as they approached, "Where did you get this little one?"

Allen gave a tiny smile. "I found it under a dumpster in town. Do you think… I could have you fix a saucer for it or something?"

After a moment of silence, Jerry chuckled, "You're eating too, right?"

"Oh, sure!"

After making a sizeable order, Allen found an isolated seat to wait for his food.

However, as soon as he sat down, he discovered that Lavi had been shadowing him.

"What is THAT?"

Allen shifted his arms so they were more secure around the puppy. "What does it look like?"

"A stray you picked up off the streets." He held out his hands. "Can I see it?"

Allen hesitated. "It just got stitches. You have to be careful, okay?"

"I might not seem like a careful person but I can handle it, I promise." Lavi said, taking the puppy.

The puppy yipped and bit his fingers playfully. Lavi laughed good-naturedly and tried to keep its squirming down to a healthy minimum. "Hey, take it easy!"

Allen reached over to give the puppy a pat on the head.

"So…" Lavi began, is it a boy or a girl?"

"Huh? Oh, I don't know…"

Lavi checked the puppy's gender so suddenly that Allen looked away in embarrassment.

"It's a boy!"

Allen took the puppy away, irritated. "Good to know."

"You should name him." Lavi said cheerfully, "You should call him Allen. The black spot around his eye kind of reminds me of your cursed one."

"I'm not naming him after myself." The white-haired exorcist replied impatiently.

"Allen Junior?"

"No."

The puppy looked up at him, panting with a soft, dog-like smile. It seemed almost expectant.

"How about just Junior?" Allen suddenly suggested.

And so, with enthusiastic support of Lavi, the puppy was named Junior.

Junior healed up quickly, and it wasn't long until he became a friend of just about everyone in the order. Allen took the puppy everywhere with him while he was home. The two could often be seen walking together, Junior either bounding alongside Allen on springy limbs, or, if they were near the cafeteria, being carried in the boy's arms as a precaution.

It was about time for Allen to think about finding a home for his puppy. Though it was very obvious, everyone avoided the subject. Even Komui, who had established that the puppy could not stay for too long, was reluctant to enforce the rule; especially since Junior had become a popular comedy relief when he visited the science department.

Presently, Allen and Junior were making their way to Headquarter's library. Some direction and prompting from Lavi had recently turned him into a more frequent reader.

As they entered the room, Junior put his nose to the deep blue carpet and snuffled around in a semi-circle at Allen's feet. He suddenly froze, swung around to give Allen an overly dramatic stare of surprise and made a quiet "Ruff!" sound.

"Sssh! Junior, no." Allen warned, kneeling down and putting a finger to the puppy's lips.

Junior snorted at him before trotting away.

Allen followed the direction the puppy was taking with a frown of disapproval. The expression quickly turned to horror as he saw Junior making a beeline for Kanda.

The long-haired exorcist sat neatly in a cushioned armchair, with stark perfect posture and a book that dominated his attention.

Junior quietly made his way to the chair's armrest and propped himself up onto his hind legs. Kanda looked a little surprised as he noticed the white puppy sniffing at him curiously. They hadn't been properly introduced before.

Kanda offered his hand, which Junior nibbled at. He took his hand away, gave the puppy a light scratch behind the ears and then turned back to his book. Allen hanged back and watched the whole interaction warily.

As he noticed Kanda's indifference to him, Junior whined dejectedly. He got back down on all fours to march over to the exorcist's ankles and lift his leg with a purpose.

Allen saw this and shouted, "Kanda look out!" Keeping the library quiet was suddenly no longer a priority.

Everybody in the area looked over in time to see Kanda's shoes get dribbled over with urine.

Allen ran over to scoop Junior up in his arms. Kanda grabbed the collar of Allen's shirt in the same moment, lifting him above the ground in a flash. The atmosphere in the library tensed up at the scene that resembled a typical bullying scenario on a playground.

Allen blanched and clawed at the hand holding him up. "Kanda, come on… stop it."

The older exorcist raised his fist in response, but suddenly thought better of his intentions and dropped Allen roughly. "Get out." He said, murderously quiet.

There was a pause as Allen returned the glare, wanting to argue with Kanda since he had embarrassed him like that. But he couldn't do anything irrational while Junior was in his arms. Instead he turned and left the library in the most dignified manner he could.

But Allen couldn't keep the angry blush from searing on his face, nor could he keep Junior from whimpering in his arms.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, sit down."

Allen took a seat across from Komui's desk. His heart convulsed in dread as he saw the supervisor's somber expression. "Is this about Junior?" He asked quietly.

Komui nodded, and Allen shifted his gaze to the floor.

"I got a complaint from Kanda, about today's incident in the library. I'm sorry, Allen, he has to go. I shouldn't have let you keep him here for so long in the first place. I know you're attached to him now…" Komui brushed a lock of hair behind his ear uncomfortably.

Allen sighed and looked up. "No, I'm sorry. He was my responsibility and I should have gotten him out of here by now. I'll look around for someone to take him today-"

"Hey, I'm not upset with you." Komui said gently. "Everyone here loves him. In fact, I want to tell you to keep him here but I can't. It's just not tolerated to keep animals here as a casual pets."

"I know."

"Take your time, Allen. Find him a good home."

Allen stood up to leave. "Thank you."

As he returned to his room, he found Junior waiting for him, as usual. Allen couldn't open the door all the way because the puppy was so close to it. He waited until he felt the weight shift behind the wooden barrier and saw a tiny dark nose poking through the crack in the door. This was followed by the rest of Junior's body as he squeezed his way out into the hallway.

Allen waited until Junior finished doing this before he picked up the puppy and brought him back into the room. Junior squirmed in his arms until he was set down.

Allen proceeded to sit down on his bed with a sad sigh. Junior pricked his ears up at this, and, catching on to the mood, got into Allen's lap and mimicked the boy's sigh.

"Are you ready to go on a trip?" He asked.

The puppy looked at him cluelessly. Allen held him and stood up, kissing him gently on the forehead. This time Junior didn't struggle.

It didn't seem like very long until Allen and Junior were once again on those baking city streets. The puppy in the boy's arms was a little bigger than before, and much more active.

Allen slid Junior into one arm and pulled out a crumpled brochure, the same one he had received from that convenience store last time he was in town. After a bit of walking, he found a building almost a block away from the place he had originally found Junior.

The coincidence was only noted briefly in his mind as he walked inside. Junior shifted and made a nervous "Hurroo…," fading the sound into a growl so it sounded like he was rolling his 'R's.

Allen gave Junior a reassuring pat as he approached the reception desk.

The girl manning it looked up at him through thick glasses. "Hi." She smiled.

"Hey." Allen returned the smile, but it lacked a lot of heart. "I'm looking for a home for this puppy and I'd like to pick it myself." He said, quiet but straightforward. "Can the shelter provide any assistance in that?"

"Everyone wants to make sure their baby gets a proper home." The girl sympathized, "But we can't do that because it takes away from all the other strays that need a home. Your best bet is to just leave him with us. We can notify you when he gets adopted."

Cries from the animals at the back of the shelter could be heard through the walls. Allen bit his lower lip briefly. "It's okay… I think I'll try to do this on my own then." He said goodbye to the girl and left.

_"The responsible thing to do," _Allen thought to himself,_ "would have been to leave Junior at the shelter." _He felt morally justified for what he was doing though, so he didn't guilt himself too much about it.

Allen considered doing a bit of wandering. Maybe he would get lucky and find some decent family that would take good care of a puppy. He knew he was stretching it a bit, but it seemed like the best chance he had.

It was then that Junior gave a loud yelp. So unexpectedly that Allen jumped, and Junior took the moment to twist free from the arms holding him. The puppy landed hard on the ground but he recovered quickly and darted off through an alleyway.

"Junior!" Allen took off after him. The sunlight dimmed suddenly as he entered the gap between the buildings. Junior's white fur flashed by, skimming around a corner. Allen turned after him only moments later. There, he was forced to an abrupt stop.

One huge dog stood no less than three yards from them. She was lean, with short hair that had a speckled pattern of light gray. Her face was sharply angled with a rounded nose that could just reach Allen's chest. She lifted her upper lip to him as he appeared, and Allen saw sizeable fangs protruding from her gums.

The fur along Junior's spine bristled like it was just exposed to static.

Allen tensed up his left arm and prepared to activate it. "Junior." He whispered, "Come here."

Junior took a step backwards without looking away from the dog. "Wuff!" He barked, high pitched, but bold.

"Junior!" Allen panicked.

The dog relaxed her muzzle and copied Junior's bark in a much deeper voice. Junior responded with a whimper, tentatively stepping forward again.

Suddenly the dog lowered her great head. Junior ran to it, whining and licking her face and wagging his tail so hard that half of his body followed it.

Allen went from frantic puzzlement to understanding as he began to piece things together. The large dog's wiry structure, not from malnourishment, but from her natural shape, resembled a similar frame that Junior was filling into. Even their movements, in the way the two sort of trotted in place and nibbled at each other's ears playfully.

Then, there was another puppy. Allen did not see where it came from because he was so focused on Junior. The new dog pounced on Junior, failing to knock him down, but ridiculously happy nonetheless. Its fur matched that of the older dog, but its legs were a bit shorter in proportion that the other two. Plus, Allen noticed, it shared the same black blob of color on the left side of its face as Junior.

They were all obviously related. Allen felt a pang of rejection as the largest dog picked Junior up by the scruff and turned away. His little white puppy looked at him suddenly. He twisted out of his mother's jaws, in a similar manner that he had done not long before with Allen, and jogged over to him.

Junior barked, and Allen knelt down to receive a wet kiss from the puppy before it ran back to it's small family.

The mother picked him up again, paused to give the Allen meaningful look, and walked away proudly. Allen stayed frozen at the ground as he watched them leave.

It was strange how the dog's stare lingered in his mind, and even odder that the meaning of it was so clear. It was like she had opened her mouth and spoke to him, with something like, "I really don't like how familiar you are with my baby." And, "Thanks anyway."

A thin smile played across Allen's lips. "Goodbye, Junior."

It's been a long time since I've written any fanfiction.

I feel like the beginning of this was really slow, so if you read this through all the way to the end, thank you :)


End file.
